Costs and benefits of rapid screening of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus carriage in intensive care units: a prospective multicenter study

Table 4 Costs of adding rapid diagnostic testing of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) to the currently used MRSA policy

	Number of units	Cost/unit (€)	Additional cost (€)
IDI study
Total cost per test^a		56.22
Total cost of test strategy in this study	519		29,178.18
PCR cost per patient tested (n = 89)		327.84
GeneXpert study
Total cost per test^b		69.62
Total cost of test strategy in this study	268		18,658.16
PCR cost per patient tested (n = 74)		252.14

^aCosts for BD GeneOhm™ MRSA PCR (assuming 200 patients per year are screened) include: assay and platform costs (price SmartCycler €41,650), depreciation (5 years) and 8% maintenance costs, personnel costs (laboratory staff and medical microbiologist), and additional costs (Liquid Stuart's swabs, gloves, consumables). A detailed description of the cost analyses has been published elsewhere [10]. ^bCosts for Xpert MRSA PCR include: assay and platform costs (price GeneXpert €63,813.75), depreciation (5 years) and 8% maintenance costs, personnel costs (laboratory staff and medical microbiologist), and additional costs (Liquid Stuart's swabs, gloves, consumables). A detailed description of the cost analyses has been published elsewhere [10]. PCR, polymerase chain reaction.

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